Do-it-yourself post-punk band the Deep Freeze Mice released ten records in their decade-long existence, beginning as amateurs with no formal knowledge of what they were embarking on. The original lineup -- guitarist/vocalist Alan Jenkins, bassist Mick Bunnage (of the Statics), keyboardist Sherree Lawrence, and drummer Graham Summers (also of the Statics) -- stayed intact until the release of the band's third record, The Gates of Lunch. After the departure of Summers and the acquisition of replacement Pete Gregory, the lineup remained until their breakup in 1989. Leader Jenkins (who was also involved with the Chrysanthemums and Ruth's Refrigerator during the existence of his primary band) continued afterwards in the Creams and the Thurston Lava Tube. All of Deep Freeze Mice's records were released in small quantities through the band's labels, Mole Embalmi ... Read more »

Recalling the no wave movement of the late '70s, the self-titled debut of New York City's Blonde Redhead is a glorious piece of dense, art-damaged noise, with songs that move from drifting melodicism to raging aural assaults in the course of a few measures. Taking their cues most directly from Sonic Youth (Steve Shelley produced the album), Blonde Redhead revel in noise and create vast sonic landscapes out of which songs naturally emerge. The focus here tends to be on atmospherics, and yet there is never the feeling of utter chaos; instead, the album functions like a work of controlled mayhem, referencing a wide range of musical approaches. The opening track, "I Don't Want U," starts off like jazz-rock, building momentum until it erupts in a blast of indie rock noise, anchored throughout by a steadily rolling bassline. "Snippet"'s quite-loud-quiet dynamic ... Read more »

Ruth's Refrigerator was a short-lived collaboration between Leicester, England-based neo-psychedelic guitarist/songwriter Alan Jenkins (formerly of the Deep Freeze Mice and the Chrysanthemums) and the British indie pop band Po! (not to be confused with American alt-rockers P'o). The members were Jenkins, namesake singer/guitarist Ruth Miller, keyboardist Blodwyn P. Teabag (whom Jenkins later married), bassist Terri Lowe, and drummer Robyn Gibson. Ruth's Refrigerator released two fine albums' worth of jangly psych-pop, 1990s Suddenly a Disfigured Head Parachuted and 1991's A Lizard Is a Submarine on Grass, but was never meant to be a full-time project. Miller and Lowe returned to Po!, and Jenkins, Teabag, and Gibson went on to form the Creams.

The first of the two Ruth's Refrigerator albums is the stronger of the pair. Ruth Miller's artless (and occasi ... Read more »

Every few years or so, an artist is hailed as the next Bob Dylan and 99 times out of 100 it's a preposterous and completely unjust comparison. That said, the confessional commentary and whimsical stream of conscious narratives that Ezra Furman spews forth on Banging Down the Doors could have been taken straight out of a textbook of Dylanology 101. But the key factor that makes Furman stand out from many of the other Zimmerman wannabes and upcoming indie folk revivalists is a unique personality and a childlike innocence that shine through and make him easily relatable. It's similar to the "pal factor" that Jonathan Richman had fronting the Modern Lovers and that Gordon Gano had in the Violent Femmes. Furman connects to his audience intimately, like a friend who is casually baring his soul, and delivers literal references and abstract theories without a hint of pretension. Furman has a whole lo ... Read more »

Much like ex-Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus, former Dismemberment Plan lead singer Travis Morrison faces the daunting task of detaching himself from the large shadow his juggernaut band cast over the indie rock community. Free from the democratic constraints the Plan imposed upon him, Morrison presents a far more eclectic side of himself than seen on any record prior, and the results were heavily foreshadowed via mp3s on his website during Travistan's production phase. Nevertheless, Plan loyalists are almost guaranteed to scrutinize this album from start to finish, deconstructing it on a microscopic level with a magnifying glass to find any possible reason to complain why Morrison and company called i ... Read more »

The remastered version of the early Toy Love (pre-Tall Dwarfs) tracks, both the singles and the LP are included and sound a lot better than they used to. Chris Knox & Co were apparently upset about the production of their original LP (it was way smoother than they wanted to sound) and so they re-released it along with their singles 25 years later, the way they always intended it to sound.

This is a special collaboration between Windy & Carl's music and Christy's photography.
Recorded at home between March and October 2006.
Made especially for Brainwaves, the Brainwashed 10th anniversary festival, Nov. 17-19, 2006 at the Regent Theatre, Arlington, Mass.
Actually there is only 1 Track (33:16 min).

Issued in 1987, Escape from Noise took the scope of A Big 10-8 Place to even wider levels, touching on everything from how many time zones Russia covers to a rendition of "Over the Rainbow" sung by a little girl plagued with hiccups. Maintaining Negativland's blend of wit and darker themes, it might have simply remained a cult classic were it not for the appearance of the throbbing, creepy "Christianity Is Stupid" and, a few months after the album's release, a mass murder in Minnesota committed by a teenager against his family. Having seen tour plans fall through at around the same time, Negativland decided to distribute a fake press release hinting that the killer had in fact been arguing w ... Read more »

Naked City's follow up to their self-titled album is a departure from the New York noir that they had perfected. Here, after a 17 minute, moody title piece, all low rumbling punctuated by drum thrashes and distorted screams, is a very straight transcription of Debussy's "Cathedrale Engloutie" featuring some very lovely, watery guitar work from Bill Frisell. Other modern pieces follow, with works by Scriabin, Ives, Messian, and Di Lassus. And then for something completely different: 32 thrash'n'burn numbers lasting anywhere from 10 seconds to a whopping 1:14, most with humorous titles (some favorites: "Jazz Snob: Eat Shit," "Perfume of a Critic's Burning Flesh," "Pigfucker"). Forget the subtlety of the first half -- this is thrash jazz! Yamatsuka Eye of the Boredoms provides vocals. As they say, there's screaming, and then there's Yamatsuka Eye. Whether or ... Read more »

Since their formation in Zurich in 1978, the Welttraumforscher's music has been moving to and from a field marked by the cornerstones of the classic pop song as epitomized by Burt Bacharach or Simon and Garfunkel, the emotional barrenness of Nick Drake's compositions, the escapism of Syd Barrett and electronic home recording-miniatures of cinematic dimensions as [co-]developed by Der Plan and Cabaret Voltaire.
       
But this band never consciously flirted with the notion of 'being ahead of their time'. The Welttraumforscher have always been self-sufficient and completely independent -- and that goes for their musical as well as their lyrical content. In their unique way, they are working on everyday myths (complete with fantasy characters like Kip Eulenmeister ... Read more »